Where can we get these, WHERE? We has to have them, precioussss. Bagginsses has them, we bet. We hate Bagginsses …

Regular readers will know that wellthisiswhatithink is just a teensie-weensie bit obsessed with iPhones. I am neither technically geegy-in-love nor tech-terrified, but I do enjoy the iPhone’s ever-expanding usefulness, its neatness, and the way everything pretty much just works, provided, of course, you’re prepared to work the way Apple want you to. The endless security requirements of iTunes get up my nose a bit, but when a friend reports that he lost thousands of dollars thru fake purchases of music he never made on his iPhone, well, I guess the cyber-security people know what’s best.

And I love the way it takes photos. I am currently enduring a one week self-imposed ban on posting iPhone-taken wallpaper to this blog.

So anyhow, reliable news of forthcoming developments always gets a run in here. These reports are circulating the web right now, and on Yahoo in particular.

Looks like more of a re-design than a re-functionality. Then again, a young fellow in my local Apple store told me I should literally be salivating about the upcoming release of a new operating system, so who knows?

Of course, everyone is waiting for the ultimate iPhone app. The one that perceives when you’re going to text or phone your ex/current/possible future lover while stonkingly drunk, and locks you out of the system until you’re sober.

HONG KONG (AFP) – Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone later this year with a slimmer screen thanks to updated touch-screen technology, a report said Tuesday.

The next generation iPhone, referred to by fans as the “iPhone 5”, is being manufactured by Asian component makers, Dow Jones Newswires quoted unnamed sources as saying.

Its panels will use “in-cell technology” integrating touch sensors into the LCD, it said.

That makes a separate touch-screen layer unnecessary and reduces the screen thickness by about half a millimetre, Dow Jones quoted DisplaySearch analyst Hiroshi Hayase as saying.

(I quite like the slightly thicker iPhone 4 over my iPhone 3 – all about personal taste, I guess. Ed.)

The new technology will also boost displayed image quality, and help Apple cut costs as it would no longer have to buy touch panels and LCDs from separate suppliers, the report added.

It said Japanese liquid crystal display makers Sharp and Japan Display Inc as well as South Korea’s LG Display Co were currently mass producing panels for the next iPhone.

Apple is widely expected to launch the device in the third quarter of this year, around 12 months after the release of its hugely popular iPhone 4S — the firm’s first new product following the death of co-founder Steve Jobs.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the report or the next iPhone’s release date when contacted by AFP.

The report came amid heated competition from rivals such as Samsung, whose flagship smartphone the Galaxy S III uses a 4.8-inch (12.2 centimetre) screen that is thinner than the current iPhone.

Apple posted a $11.6 billion profit in the first three months this year, led by record sales of iPad tablet computers and iPhones — the latter surging 88 percent year-on-year.